Jeanne Cooper, the enduring soap
opera star who played grande dame Katherine Chancellor for nearly four decades
on "The Young and the Restless," has died. She was 84.
Cooper died Wednesday morning in her
sleep, her son the actor Corbin Bernsen wrote on Facebook. The family confirmed
the death to CBS, according to a network spokeswoman.
She was in a Los Angeles-area
hospital, according to Bernsen's spokesman, Charles Sherman, who said the cause
of death was not immediately available.
Cooper will be remembered "as a
daytime television legend and as a friend who will truly be missed by all of us
here at the network," said Nina Tassler, president of CBS Entertainment,
adding that the actress brought "indelible charm, class and talent to
every episode."
"Heaven just gained one feisty
angel," cast member Melissa Claire Egan posted on her Twitter account.
"A very sad day for all of us.
You will be deeply missed," tweeted Jessica Collins, also on the serial.
Cooper joined the daytime serial six
months after its March 1973 debut, staking claim to the title of
longest-tenured cast member.
The role earned her 11 Daytime Emmy nominations
and a trophy for best actress in a drama series in 2008.
"God knows it's claimed a big
part of my life," she told The Associated Press in March as CBS' "The
Young and the Restless" celebrated its milestone 40th anniversary.
As the years passed, Cooper brushed
aside thoughts of saying goodbye to the show and its fictional Wisconsin town
of Genoa City.
"What would I do? I'm no good at
crocheting. My fingers would bleed," she told the AP as she turned 83 in
October.
But on April 12 Bernsen tweeted that
his mother faced an "uphill battle" for an undisclosed illness. In
subsequent days he wrote of her gradual improvement and said that she'd been
taken off breathing equipment.
In a Facebook posting April 17,
Bernsen said his mother cursed several times, "showing me that she's
becoming her old self, not thrilled about the situation, and ready to get out
of the hospital and shake up the world."
On Wednesday he wrote that she
remained a fighter until the end: "She has been a blaze her entire life,
that beacon, that boxer I spoke of earlier. She went the full twelve rounds and
by unanimous decision... won!"
Cooper, born in the California town
of Taft in 1928, attended the College of the Pacific and performed in local
theater productions before her professional career began with the 1953 film
"The Redhead from Wyoming" starring Maureen O'Hara. Other film
credits include 1968's "The Boston Strangler" with Tony Curtis and
1967's "Tony Rome" with Frank Sinatra.
She had a parallel career in TV, with
shows including "The Adventures of Kit Carson" in 1953 and "The
Pepsi-Cola Playhouse" in 1954 and "Bracken's World" in 1969-70.
In a recurring role on "L.A.
Law," she played the mother to Bernsen's character, Arnie, and received a
1987 Emmy nomination for best guest actress in a drama. Bernsen later joined
his mother on her series, making several appearances as a priest, Father Todd.
But it was her role on "The
Young and the Restless" that made her a TV star intimately familiar to
viewers.
In 1984, Cooper's real-life facelift
was televised on the show as her character underwent the surgery at the same
time, and had no regrets about it.
"It opened up reconstructive
surgery for so many people, youngsters getting things done," she said.
"To this day, people will come up to me and say, 'Thank you so much for
doing that. My mom or I had something done, and not just cosmetic surgery.'
That was an incredible experience in my life."
"The Young and the
Restless" has topped the daytime serial ratings for more than 24 years, in
part because of the continuity provided by Cooper and its other long-time stars
including Eric Braeden. It held its ground as the genre diminished in
popularity and the majority of soaps vanished.
Cooper's 30-year marriage to Harry
Bernsen ended in divorce. The couple have three children, Corbin, Caren and
Collin, and eight grandchildren.
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